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“Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.” --Harper LeeSat, 21 Feb 2015 05:14:27 +0000en-UShourly1Geek Palaverhttp://0.gravatar.com/avatar/849abe0c05eadf5d6b16a246651599ff.png?s=48http://www.geekpalaver.com
HCS Terrified of Questions from Publichttp://www.geekpalaver.com/2014/01/30/hcs-terrified-questions-public/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2014/01/30/hcs-terrified-questions-public/#commentsFri, 31 Jan 2014 03:32:33 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3673Wardynski and the Board are terrified of actually having to answer questions from the public.

]]>Dr. Wardynski and every one of the current board members are, evidently, terrified of actually answering questions from the public.

At the “Community Conversations” scheduled to supposedly allow the community to converse with the superintendent and the board of education about their “plan” for redistricting Huntsville, the community is, once again, not allowed to ask questions about the plan.

Here’s the message given to members of the community who bothered to show up to the Lee High meeting this afternoon at 5:00pm.

Yes, you’re reading that correctly. In order to have a question answered, you have to write it on a card so that the district can review your question and then answer the questions that they want, in their own way and time. And like the writing of questions on cards at school board work sessions, they will ignore any question that they do not want to answer.

Our elected officials are terrified of actually having to answer questions from the public.

We’ve Run Off a Third of Our Teachers

At the January 16th special called board meeting at 3:30pm, the superintendent spent 45 minutes of a meeting that was limited to a total of 90 minutes talking about all the wonderful things he has done in his time here. For example, one of his most proud moments came when he shared that he had managed to run of one-third of the teachers from the district.

In his delusional world, that was amazing news because clearly all of those teacher that he’s managed to run off were clearly bad or weak teachers. Of course that group also included teachers of the year, and among the strongest teachers this district has ever seen. Many of those who Wardynski has run off are now volunteering their time to the schools that they left. Weak teachers, indeed.

By the way, the official count according to Mr. Johnny Giles, Chief of Staff (yes, we have a chief of staff) of teachers who have retired from Huntsville City Schools since August 2011 is 177. 134 teachers have resigned since that time. 100 teachers were “not continued for employment.”

Thus, since August 2011, 411 teachers have left the district.

In addition, there have been 158 resignations and 92 retirements of other district employees since August 2011.

Therefore, the district’s official count is 661 district employees who have left since August 2011. That’s 23.61 employees leaving the district every month since Wardynski was placed in charge.

And he’s proud of this number.

Terrified of Questions

So, on January 16th, at a meeting to discuss changes in the school zone lines, Wardynski spent half of his time talking about his accomplishments before even beginning the rezoning discussion.

After he wrapped up patting himself on the back, he then presented the district’s zoning plan. (You’ll have to scroll down to page 30 to see the new plans.)

Following his presentation of the rezoning plan (which does contain changes to the Grissom zoning, despite Wardynski’s assurance on January 14, 2013 that he was not rezoning Grissom), he left a total of 12 minutes for the “public” to ask questions at the meeting.

Mr. Blair, because he is terrified of facing the voters, decided that those twelve minutes should be reserved for the public officials present at the meeting. And so the Mayor, Councilman Russell (who both expressed “full faith and confidence” in both Wardynski and the Board) spoke first. Councilman Showers spoke third and made Wardynski quite nervous as witnessed by his rapid foot tapping.

After Councilman Showers completed speaking, while Dr. Robinson was paying close attention by texting, the meeting was adjourned without a single comment being allowed from the public—who had to fight for a seat as all the district principals were “asked” to attend.

Community Conversations without Conversation

At the conclusion of the meeting Wardynski and Blair shouted down a citizen for daring to ask when the public would be allowed to ask questions. Their response: the public may ask questions at the Community Conversations to be held according to the following schedule:

Lee High, January 30th, 5:00 – 6:30pm

Grissom High, January 31st, 5:00 – 6:30pm

Huntsville High, February 1st, 9:00 – 10:30am

Johnson High, February 3rd, 5:00 – 6:30pm

Butler High, February 4th, 5:00 – 6:30pm

Columbia High, February 5th, 5:00 – 6:30pm

But of douse, as we now definitively know, the only way the public can ask questions is to write them down on question cards and hope that they will be chosen to be answered “at a later date.”

They are terrified of the public that they are supposed to be representing.

Contact the Department of Justice

Here’s an idea. Since our board and superintendent don’t want to answer questions from the public about their version of the rezoning plan, I would suggest going over their head to the Department of Justice.

The DoJ, will after all, have final say about what the plan looks like anyway. (The exception to this is, of course, if Wardynski gets his wish to sue the Department of Justice as he will likely ask the BoE to approve tomorrow.)

Let Sarah Hinger know that the district is completely ignoring public input into this plan. As she stated in her letter to J. R. Brooks dated December 17, 2013, the district is actually required to be involved in the plan to unify the district. I’m sure that she would be interested in knowing that the district is not doing so.

You may contact Ms. Hinger via the Department of Justice at the following address:

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2014/01/30/hcs-terrified-questions-public/feed/26Evaluating the Huntsville BOE and Superintendenthttp://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/04/16/evaluating-the-huntsville-boe-and-superintendent/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/04/16/evaluating-the-huntsville-boe-and-superintendent/#commentsWed, 17 Apr 2013 03:09:48 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3451Despite the district's claims that "this information is not used to evaluate teachers," the surveys have been used to determine if teachers are renewed.

Since posting the Children Evaluating Teachers post Sunday night, there have been several details to come to light that need your attention.

Despite a district representative’s claims to the contrary, I have been told that these evaluations from eight-year olds have indeed been used during the evaluation process of non-tenured teachers at the end of the year last year. In other words, the results from a non-scientific survey of eight-year olds has been used by the district to decide if a non-tenured teacher should be allowed to continue teaching another year.

The District “Exaggerates” the Truth

When the district representative wrote, “This information is not used to evaluate teachers,” this person was either completely misinformed or attempting to spin the truth of the situation to appease an upset parent. These surveys of children are absolutely used to evaluate teachers.

Furthermore, I’ve heard from several other concerned citizens and teachers since posting. The consensus is that the district is absolutely using the opinion of children to evaluate teachers. They are even using these opinions when, as this teacher shared, the students are clearly using the evaluation to work out their frustrations with the teacher:

Evaluating the Huntsville City Board

In response to the completely reasonable and accurate survey that the district had our eight-year olds filling out for their teachers, a friend of mine has created a similar survey asking for your opinion of the superintendent and the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education. This is your opportunity to share your opinions about the board’s and the superintendent’s responsiveness to the students, teachers and public.

The survey will be open from now until April 28, 2013, so please take a moment to go and offer your assessment of the board and the superintendent. There are a total of 28 questions, and your participation is completely anonymous. (On this matter, I give you my word. If you share honest opinions, no one will ever know that you were the one to share them.)

If you have a connection to Huntsville City Schools, please take a few minutes out of your time over the next two weeks to share with us your opinion of the board of education and the superintendent. When the survey is closed, I will share the results of the survey here.

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/04/16/evaluating-the-huntsville-boe-and-superintendent/feed/6New Grissom Broken Promiseshttp://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/01/23/new-grissom-broken-promises/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/01/23/new-grissom-broken-promises/#commentsWed, 23 Jan 2013 21:57:07 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3267The decision to move Grissom High to a new location had been made at least as early as September 28, 2012.

In August 2011, Dr. Wardynski was on the campaign trail pushing for the renewal of the 6.5 mil property tax. During this push, he met with many various groups across the city, and in particular with groups associated with Grissom High School. In particular, he met with the South Huntsville Civic Association, and assured them that Grissom would be rebuilt on its current site.

He’s always been quick to make promises when he believes it will work to his advantage.

Beginning in October, however, rumors began to surface that Grissom might actually be moved, but of course, these rumors were “unfounded.”

Unfounded rumors seem to always have a way of turning out to be true in this district, don’t they?

On September 28, 2012, the consultant firm hired to do the work of the district in planning for the new Grissom, TCU Consultant Services, sent a letter to potential architect firms concerning the building of the new Grissom High. Yes, we are contracting our contracting now, but don’t distract me.

This letter laid out for the bidders a few general specifications concerning the new building which looked something like this:

New Grissom High School Design for an enrollment, when fully developed, of 2200-2400 students. Initial design for approximately 330,000 sq ft with a construction budget of approximately $48,000,000.00.

Now, you’ll note that there is no discussion of a location in this description from September 28th, but there are a few points that raise several questions about where the new school might be located. When meeting with the public for the first time on January 14th, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Wardynski shared with the public a brief description of the two locations under consideration. According to Dr. Wilson there would be a dramatic difference in the size of the two schools depending on which location was chosen. If the new Grissom were rebuilt on its current site, that building would hold approximately 1,800 students.

If instead the new Grissom were relocated to the “Weatherly Road” site (behind Sam’s Club), this would result in a building with a capacity for 2,200.

Furthermore if the new Grissom were built on the current site, the square footage of the new Grissom would be comparable to the current Grissom of about 280,000. If the new Grissom were instead relocated to the “Weatherly Road” site, it would (wait for it) have a square footage of 330,000.

Approximately one month after Dr. Wardynski assured the South Huntsville Civic Association that he had a specific plan for rebuilding Grissom on its current site, the architects were being asked to bid on a completely different plan.

But wait, there’s more.

If you look further into the letters sent from TCU Consultant Services to the potential architect firms you’ll find a letter dated October 23, 2012 that contains a slightly more detailed project description that reads:

New Grissom High School — will be approximately an 2200-2400 student new school, built on a newly selected site to be determined. The project size is approximately 330,000 sqft and has an approximate construction budget of $48,000,000.00.

So you see, at least as early as September 28th (and likely earlier) and definitely as early as October 23rd, the district was seeking architectural bids for a new Grissom that could not fit on the current Grissom location.

This is how Dr. Wardynski operates. He freely tells “concerned citizens” what he believes that they want to hear, then proceeds to follow a different plan behind closed doors. And while doing so, he happily sends his cheerleaders, like say Dr. Jennie Robinson, to speak to the press (as she did on November 26, 2012 or two months after the request for bids was sent to the architects) to say the following:

School board member Jennie Robinson, whose district includes Grissom, said there should be concerns when the district is contemplating a $60 million investment like a new high school. Like Brown, Robinson said the biggest concern she’s heard is what will become of the old Grissom campus.

“What do you put there that builds value to the neighborhood?” Robinson said. “You don’t hurt a neighborhood in the process of trying to build a school in a different place.”

She said relocating the school is still just a possibility and that no specific site is outweighing the others.

“All of the sites have considerations,” Robinson said. “Some have more challenges than others. Some have more advantages than others.

“In the end, it comes down to which one makes the most sense,” she said.

No, Dr. Robinson, in the end, it comes down to which location Dr. Wardynski actually wants to use, not which one makes the most sense. Despite her willingness to voice concern on behalf of the existing neighborhoods, she knew, or as a board member should have known, when she said that “no specific site is outweighing the others” that one specific site, specifically the misleadingly named “Weatherly Road” site, was far better suited to meeting the specifications that the district had already published.

The decision to move Grissom High to a new location had been made at least as early as September 28, 2012.

When Dr. Wardynski was first hired by the district in July 2011, he posted a document on the website entitled, “Preliminary Draft 60 Day Entry Plan.” For obvious reasons, this document is no longer posted on the district’s site, but since I have a few hoarder-like tendencies, I just happen to have a copy of his entry plan, the second page of which shows the following:

If he truly wanted to be “Our Superintendent” rather than “The Superintendent,” wouldn’t it make it easier if he openly and clearly discussed his plans for our district with us rather than continually telling us that decisions haven’t been made when we know that they have?

Respectfully, Dr. Wardynski and Dr. Robinson, it isn’t that hard to earn the confidence of “All Members of the Huntsville Community.” All you really have to do is to be concerned about all of the community’s members rather than just the business members of the community.

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/01/23/new-grissom-broken-promises/feed/16Wardynski’s Contract “For The Assistant Coaches”http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/01/04/wardynskis-contract-extended-for-the-assistant-coaches/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/01/04/wardynskis-contract-extended-for-the-assistant-coaches/#commentsSat, 05 Jan 2013 03:58:31 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3250I wonder how many more of our "assistant coaches" are planning to offer their resignations and retirements because the board extended Wardynski's contract?

I often find myself at a loss for words after the board of education does something incredibly stupid like extending Dr. Wardynski’s contract by two years after he has had exactly one evaluation. When last they met, they were still spreading the completely illogical notion that extending his contract–a contract that is binding not on Dr. Wardynski (he can quit at anytime for any reason, even without notice) but rather is binding on the district–shows that he is “committed to the district.”

I pointed out to the board just how illogical this “reasoning” was back in November, and I asked them for an explanation, some, any justification that actually makes sense.

Of course, as is their practice (if not their officially stated policy), they ignored my question entirely and voted to extend his contract by two more years.

So, once again, we see that the rules that apply to teachers, aides, and other district employees, just do not apply to Dr. Wardynski and his friends. Teachers are evaluated for a minimum of three years before they receive any form of security. Most aides never receive any form of security at all.

In what industry does this happen? It seems that the only one where it happens is in football.

And so when I am at a loss for words, I spend time thinking about the situation, evaluating it, attempting to make sense out of the senselessness that is the Huntsville Board of Education. Want an example? Right before he voted to extend the contract, Mr. Blair had the following to say:

Blair: “This is really more of a one way contract, right. So, then you talk about good faith and all that, so, even with the current contract, Dr. Wardynski could leave tomorrow. There is no penalty for him leaving tomorrow. There’s only a penalty if we fire him tomorrow. So then we would have some type of buy out. So I think that’s really the good will nature that you’re talking about that you’re willing to sign a contract for a longer term even though you could opt out of it along the way. But I think that’s really kind of the point because everybody’s saying well, this is to keep him here. That’s not really . . . you could go anytime you want.”

Wardynski: “It’s really about the folks I work with everyday, knowing that I’m going to be here. The community, business leaders, firms that are looking to come into this city do they . . . they’re looking for consistency in execution and consistency in direction.”

Blair: “I’ve thought long and hard about it. And I’m a football, I like football, and we see this often with a head coach and assistant coaches, and the assistant coaches have contracts in place, and they want to know that their system is going to be in place because otherwise if the head coach leaves then they don’t have stability. So, I’ve thought about it, I’ve thought long and hard about this whole thing.”

So, the reason for the contract extension isn’t to ensure that Wardynski will be around cause this is “really more of a one way contract.” The reason is instead to make all of Wardynski’s friends feel secure and stable.

So, on the same night when the board approved the resignation of eight more people and the immediate retirement of four people with three more leaving at the end of the school year, Blair wants us to know that he’s really not concerned about Wardynski. No, he’s concerned about those “assistant coaches” who work under Wardynski.

From September 4th through December 20th (assuming that Dr. Wardynski’s summary of the HR report was correct) 134 teachers, aids, and other district employees have either resigned, retired, or announced their intention to retire at the end of the year.

134.

Yeah, Mr. Blair, we get that you’re really concerned about all those “assistant coaches” out there who are so deeply worried about Dr. Wardynski leaving town.

We’re so glad that you’ve thought “long and hard about this whole thing.”

I wonder how many more of our “assistant coaches” are planning to offer their resignations and retirements because the board extended Wardynski’s contract?

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2013/01/04/wardynskis-contract-extended-for-the-assistant-coaches/feed/3Open Letter: BOE Extends Wardynski’s Contract to 2016http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/12/20/open-letter-to-the-boe-extending-wardynskis-contract-to-2016/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/12/20/open-letter-to-the-boe-extending-wardynskis-contract-to-2016/#commentsFri, 21 Dec 2012 03:29:50 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3239Seven days after 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary school you spent four minutes talking about the safety of our children.

Schools should be merged and closed for no reason other than that the superintendent thinks it a good idea.

The superintendent should blame the victim when one child (or group of children) abuses another.

These are just some of the things that you voted to continue tonight. These are the things that you were applauding. These are the things that you were patting yourselves on the back for.

You should be ashamed.

Just one simple fact clearly illustrates just how far off track the five of you actually are.

Seven days after 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary school you spent four minutes talking about the safety of our children. (And 90 seconds of that was spent with Dr. Robinson telling Dr. Wardynski just how amazing he is.)

By comparison, you spent 28 minutes talking about property management.

You should be ashamed.

Oh, and don’t worry about responding to me. I’ve learned that the board doesn’t actually “study any concerns” brought to it. Feel free to ignore any issue I’ve raised here. Four of you have been doing so for the past 18 months anyway.

I just wanted it to be clear that these are the things that you voted to support tonight.

So tomorrow night the board of education, at the request of the superintendent, will be voting on extending Dr. Wardynski’s current three year contract for an additional three years. Yep, five days before Christmas, the board is voting on giving the Superintendent a great Christmas present simply because he wants to show the district and the city just how committed he is to staying in the district as our superintendent.

Two weeks ago, I stood and asked the board to please provide the community with some reasonable justification for extending the superintendent’s contract half way through the first one, but, of course, they offered no response.

Big surprise, right?

Well, since they’re silent on the question, I thought I would go ahead and offer you 13 reasons why Wardynski’s contract should be extended for 2013. Someone please let the Board of Education know that I’ve done their homework for them. I’m sure they will appreciate it.

So, here’s the list:

You think that teachers (and everyone else) should be run off in droves.

There you go. Thirteen reasons why Dr. Wardynski should have three more years to ruin (just in case you were wondering, no, I didn’t mean to type “run” there) our schools. If his contract is extended, 2013 will be a very unlucky year indeed.

If you wish to let your board member know that you think they should vote no on extending his contract, you need to contact them via email or phone before the meeting begins at 5:30pm tomorrow night.

I know it’s Christmas. I know you’ve got a billion other things you’d rather do. But guess what? The superintendent and the board know that too. This is why they’re voting on this right before the Christmas break.

They’re counting on you being too busy to voice your opinion about this decision. (By the way, that’s also why they’re pushing so hard to make the decision to move Grissom from its present location right now as well.)

If you think the extension is a bad idea, please contact the board member at the information below.

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/12/19/thirteen-reasons-to-extend-wardynskis-contract-tomorrow-night/feed/6Huntsville City Schools to Teachers: Bah Humbug, Againhttp://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/12/17/huntsville-city-schools-to-teachers-bah-humbug-again/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/12/17/huntsville-city-schools-to-teachers-bah-humbug-again/#commentsTue, 18 Dec 2012 04:33:23 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3219Our district decided that a memo released eight months before took precedence over the will of the legislature. Bah Humbug.

Remember last year when the Alabama State Legislature decided that giving a gift to a teacher was just the worst possible thing that any one could ever do?

Suddenly giving a teacher a small Christmas gift was on par with lobbyists attempting to purchase influence with our legislature. It was suddenly a Class B Felony for teachers to accept a gift that could possibly be resold from a five-year old. Any gift must have a “de minimis” value.

It was, just one more way for legislators to abuse our teachers.

De Minimis Undefined

And of course the legislature refused to define what “de minimis” might mean. The Ethics Commission stepped in and told us that de minimis meant that the gift could have no value at resell. So gift cards were out.

In response, Dr. Wardynski release a memo on December 7, 2011 that stated clearly that “gift cards with a specific monetary value are NOT permissible.”

So the district followed along, having no choice, and complaining about it loudly. Finally our board and superintendent had some bad news that they could blame on someone else.

The board and superintendent encouraged everyone to contact their representative and let them know that this law over reached and should be changed.

Guess what? The district (and it seems all the others across the state) listened, and did just that.

Legislature Response With A Clear Definition

In August 2012, the legislature passed an amendment (Act No. 2012-433) to the Ethics and Campaign Finance Law that finally offered a definition of de minims:

(11) DE MINIMIS: A value twenty-five dollars ($25) or less per occasion and an aggregate of fifty dollars ($50) or less in a calendar year from any single provider, or such other amounts as may be prescribed by the Ethics Commission from time to time by rule pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act or adjusted each four years from the date of the enactment of this amendatory act to reflect any increase in the cost of living as indicated by the United States Department of Labor Consumer Price Index or any succeeding equivalent index.

So it is finally crystal clear from the legislature what the meaning of “de minims” is: a single gift of $25 or less and a total of $50 or less in a calendar year. AL.com reported on this story back on December 5th.

It would seem that the legislature finally realized that giving a teacher a small gift card of $25 or less would not result in pandemonium.

Wardynski and the Board Ignore State Law: Bah Humbug

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Christmas Tree.

Suddenly our district leadership decided that the memo they released eight months before the passage of this Act took precedence over the legislature.

When the holiday season rolled around again this year, the district begin redistributing the superintendent’s memo from last year proclaiming that “gift cards with a specific monetary value are NOT permissible.”

Calls to the central office from parents, PTA members, and principals (in response to parental questions) have received verification that the memo stands.

Appeals to the board members have not been responded to (big surprise).

And so despite their complaints about the actions of the legislature a year ago, despite their encouragement of the public to have the law changed, despite the fact that the law was changed, Dr. Wardynski has not updated his memo from a year earlier.

Perhaps he prefers it this way? Perhaps taking away one of the few ways that a family can say thank you to a teacher serves his purposes of running off ever more teachers during his tenure as superintendent.

Or maybe he’s just being lazy. (I wouldn’t want to be accused of being a conspiracy theorist or anything.)

Either way, this year it is his turn to play the role of Scrooge in our ongoing game of abuse the teacher. He, along with the full support of the board of education, are the ones telling teachers that they cannot be trusted if they receive a small gift from a child wishing to say thanks this holiday.

Dr. Wardynski and the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education are the ones to blame for this abusive policy. And we need to hold them accountable.

Voting To Extend Wardynski’s Abuse of Teachers

Yep, the board will be voting on extending Dr. Wardynski three-year contract (which is half up) for another three years. They’ve offered no reasonable justification for this even being voted on at this time, but they will be voting on it anyway. If you, like I, think this is a bad idea given the fact that our district cannot afford to lose yet another 984 teachers over the next four and a half years (we’ve lost 246 in the first 18 months of Wardynski’s administration), then call or write your board member before Thursday night and ask them to vote against this ridiculous request for a 6 year contract from Dr. Wardynski.

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/12/17/huntsville-city-schools-to-teachers-bah-humbug-again/feed/2Wardynski Requests a Three Year Contract Extensionhttp://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/16/wardynski-requests-a-three-year-contract-extension/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/16/wardynski-requests-a-three-year-contract-extension/#commentsFri, 16 Nov 2012 20:19:35 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3182If Dr. Wardynski wishes to confirm his commitment to Huntsville, why is he asking for Huntsville to confirm our commitment to him?

Last night the board announced that they’ve been holding discussions with the superintendent about extending his contract which is due to expire on June 20, 2014, to June 30, 2017. He has requested to receive a three-year extension to his contract, an increase in his car allowance of $200 per month (from $600 to $800), and in return he is willing to give up his incentive bonus of up to $10,000 per year. Last year his incentive bonus was $9,920.

Contract Extension to Quell Rumors

I often hear rumors about things occurring in the district. I heard about Spinelli’s resignation about 4 months before it occurred. I heard rumors about his harassment complaints before the superintendent discussed them at a board meeting in February.

I’ve heard rumors about Dr. Wardynski as well.

I don’t publish rumors. However, last night Mrs. McCaulley and Dr. Wardynski acknowledged the existence of rumors of his interviewing with other districts. So, one collection of rumors I had heard was that he was traveling for interviews in New York, Florida, and Maryland.

Illogical Reasoning . . . As Usual

Let’s look at the logic here:

There have been rumors about Dr. Wardynski traveling for interviews in other districts in at least three separate states. Mrs. McCaulley and Dr. Wardynski confirmed the existence of the rumors last night. There was no discussion of whether or not the rumors were true or not.

So instead of confirming or denying the rumors, Dr. Wardynski’s response was to request a three year contract extension from the board.

He and the board concluded that such an extension would confirm his commitment to Huntsville.

There seems to be a problem here doesn’t there?

If Dr. Wardynski wishes to confirm his commitment to Huntsville, why is he asking for Huntsville to confirm our commitment to him?

Wouldn’t it make more sense, wouldn’t it be more logical for Dr. Wardynski to simply:

State that he isn’t interviewing with other districts?

State that he has interviewed with other districts, but that he has decided that Huntsville is far and away the best place for him?

Stop accepting interviews with other districts?

State that he isn’t interested in leaving?

Asking for a contract extension to prove your desire to stay is kinda like asking your wife for permission to cheat, so you can prove to her how committed you are to the marriage.

It just doesn’t work that way.

He wants us to tell him and the rest of the nation that we really want him to stay. This will make a great bargaining tool when he’s negotiating and interviewing with other districts. Just as many companies will not hire someone who is unemployed, Wardynski looks better to other districts when his contract isn’t about to expire.

Extending his contract says absolutely nothing about his desire to stay here as the board claimed last night.

As Clause 13 of the contract states, the contract isn’t binding on him. It requests a three month notice, but if he doesn’t give one, all that will mean is that he won’t be paid the $43,749.99 for that time. In other words, all of the burden rests on the district. None rests on Wardynski. He can still interview with other districts. He can still accept another job. Giving him a three year extension doesn’t prove commitment to the district. The three year commitment proves the district’s commitment to him.

He can, despite the extension, leave at any time.

So if he actually wants to prove, as McCaulley claimed, that “he’s committed to Huntsville,” here are a few things he can do:

Say, “I am not interviewing with any other job.”

Refuse to accept the bonus he is receiving until teachers STEP raises are restored.

Refuse to discuss a contract extension.

If he’s really committed to Huntsville, he should be willing to work out his existing contract without requiring additional promises from the district. If anything, asking for an extension proves that he is not committed to our district.

There is no logical reason for the board of education to extend his contract at this point.

So, they will likely do just that.

If you believe that they should politely tell the superintendent where he can put his “suggestion” of a contract extension, please contact your board member and let them know what you think. You may reach them at the email/phone numbers below:

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/16/wardynski-requests-a-three-year-contract-extension/feed/6“An Agent Of Change”http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/15/an-agent-of-change/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/15/an-agent-of-change/#commentsThu, 15 Nov 2012 22:01:42 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3175Every day we lose another lifetime of experience and expertise to Wardynski's inept handling of our district. This is the change he has brought.

Tuesday I spent my lunch hour being honored at the American Education Week Luncheon which was sponsored by the NEA and a local organizing committee under the direction of Dr. Roy E. Malcolm of Oakwood University. It was a nice luncheon, and being recognized as a Chancellor’s Award nominee from Drake State was quite nice. Frankly being in the room with a few of the Teachers of the Year in the Madison County area was the true honor. It was clear that I was among a group of educators who have committed their lives to improving our nation through education.

Honestly, I’m not at that level yet. I appreciated the nod, but I’m still learning this craft of education. Maybe when I’m 90, and I’ve been teaching for fifty or sixty years, I might be worthy of having my name called out with those teachers I had lunch with yesterday.

Maybe.

But I wasn’t the only one recognized at the luncheon.

You see, all of the area Superintendents were there and present to honor their teachers of the year. But unlike Dr. Copeland and Dr. Fowler, Dr. Wardynski was honored at the luncheon as well. The introduction and justification for his Special Award was long, and I didn’t capture it all between bites of carrot cake, but the gist of the award was for bringing technology into the district and “being an agent of change.”

An Agent of Change

Education is about change. When I was much younger and deciding where to attend seminary after college, I had a bunch of friends from church warn me about going off to Southern Seminary in Louisville. Their constant refrain was, “Don’t let it change you.”

I never understood that sentiment.

If education doesn’t change you, what good does it accomplish?

I sincerely hope that I am an agent of change in the lives of my students. God knows, they are an agent of change for me. That’s what education is: exposure to the new and unknown and allowing that to change your outlook on life.

And so, being known as an agent of change can be high praise. But in order for to evaluate this, we have to have some context to the changes he has brought to the district. Otherwise being an agent of change is just as nebulous as Atticus telling Mrs. Debose that she looks like a picture. He don’t say a picture of what.

Unless we place Dr. Wardynski’s change within context, there’s little way to know if his agency is good or bad.

Running Good Teachers Off

One contextual clue that we can use to evaluate Dr. Wardynski’s agency of change is the number of mid year retirement and resignations. As of November 1, 2012, or the 53rd day of school, we have seen a total of 52 district employees either resign or retire.

He has certainly been an agent of change in the makeup of our schools this year.

Some of you may be like a few of our board members when you read this number and think, great, lazy teachers who don’t want to teach are getting out. It’s about time.

Perhaps your opinion is similar to Mrs. Morrison’s and Mr. Blair’s opinions on September 20th when they claimed that the young TFAers were better able to “relate” to their students because they are so young themselves? Perhaps you agree with Mrs. Morrison at the last board meeting on the 1st when she proclaimed, “Teachers are children grown tall” to supposedly defend them against Dr. Robinson’s feigned outrage that we have to incentivize teachers to not take time off. (Yes, Dr. Robinson, even in the “real” world, people get time off.)

With friends like these on the board, is it any wonder that our teachers and staff are leaving in droves?

Honestly, the real question should be why more haven’t left.

The answer to that is simple, but sometimes the simple answers are the hardest to grasp: Our teachers stay and teach, BECAUSE THEY LOVE OUR KIDS.

What We Are Losing

TFAers get praised (usually by other TFAers) for being “involved in their students’ lives.” Mr. Blair certainly took up that argument when they invited him to attend a reception for the new TFAers we’ve hired here in Huntsville. His claim that their youth helps them relate to their students is regularly touted as one of the strengths of having a young teacher.

My experience is significantly different.

One of the 46 who stood in line on November 1st to retire was Mrs. Jerilyn Pang, a second grade teacher at Mt. Gap Elementary (oh, excuse me, just Mt. Gap now thanks to some other of the “change” Wardynski has enacted).

Mrs. Pang has been teaching for nearly 30+ years. She has raised a daughter who has followed in her footsteps as a teacher. She has sponsored the Math Club at Mt. Gap for years and is one of the primary reasons that Grissom has regularly produced a world class math team for so long. Mrs. Pang could have, and probably would have, retired years ago. Honestly, it would have made good financial sense for her to do so.

But she didn’t.

And do you know why?

Because she loves her students. She loves seeing them excel. She loves helping them fall in love with education.

Mrs. Pang is retiring at the end of the year.

She will be joined in retirement by one of the best second grade teachers I have ever known, Mrs. Gayle Dodson.

This is the change that the AEW Committee “honored” on Tuesday. A change that drives the best of our teachers out the door. A change that drives our teachers who give their own time, energy and love to their students out of the classroom. A change that replaces a teacher with the experience to be able to look at a child and know exactly the right thing to say to heal a broken heart because they’ve done it a thousand times.

That’s the change that the American Educator’s Week and the NEA were honoring on Tuesday when they honored Dr. Wardynski.

As I said, with “friends” like these, it’s a wonder that any of our teachers survive long enough to reach retirement age.

But that’s the goal of this change. To make sure that our schools are staffed with cheap, inexperienced test proctors. Teachers just aren’t worth it to Dr. Wardynski and his corporate backers any more.

And every day we lose another lifetime of experience and expertise to this man’s inept handling of our district.

The More Things Change . . .

At the board meeting tonight, the school board will be discussing some “modifications” to the superintendent’s contract. If I had to bet, I would put my money on an extension. After all, none of the three board members who voted to hire him will want to deal with his contract during an election year.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There will be a board meeting tonight at 5:30. If you can’t come in person, please follow me on twitter @russwinn or on the GeekPalaver Facebook Page. You can also watch the meeting live on channels 17 (Comcast) or 99 (Knology) beginning at 5:30pm. The district also streams the meeting on the web on the district web site.

]]>http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/15/an-agent-of-change/feed/1381 Arrests in 53 Days “A Sign of High Standards”http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/02/81-arrests-in-53-days-a-sign-of-high-standards/
http://www.geekpalaver.com/2012/11/02/81-arrests-in-53-days-a-sign-of-high-standards/#commentsFri, 02 Nov 2012 22:32:40 +0000http://www.geekpalaver.com/?p=3165Clearly the reason that there have been 81 arrests made in the district is because other cities don't love their kids as much as we do.

So last night’s meeting brought many wonderful insights. Perhaps the most interesting took place after the meeting when Dr. Wardynski was being interviewed by WAFF about the 81 arrests being made in Huntsville City Schools during the first nine weeks of the school year. According to Dr. Wardynski, having numbers that are twice as high as Birmingham is actually a good thing that the city should be grateful for as other cities “have a whole different approach to capturing statistics.”

Um, yeah. Birmingham and Mobile Police Departments and schools systems don’t track the number of arrests that occur in their schools. That’s why they’ve only tracked 39 of them in Birmingham this year. Because, you know, they’re not tracking them.

Uh, I didn’t do it.

Once again we see the Bart Simpson defense being employed: “Uh, I didn’t do it.”

Clearly the reason that there have been 81 arrests made in the district is because other cities don’t love their kids as much as we do.

Honestly, you couldn’t make this up if you tried.

Pay No Attention . . .

And once again the wizard implores us to forget what he said and claimed before about principals not having discipline problems anymore. When it suits his purposes to claim that there are no discipline issues as a result of the digital initiative, he’ll claim there are no discipline issues. When you show him statistics that he cannot change at will, well those statistics “prove” that Huntsville City has higher standards than anyone else.

The superintendent is manipulating the district’s student incident report statistics by changing the way student incidents are reported. Huh, where have I heard about that before? Oh yeah, Dr. Wardynski accused Birmingham and Mobile of changing the way they report incidents in his defense of our own numbers being twice as high.

The superintendent is ready and willing to blame anyone so that he doesn’t have to take responsibility for the results of his own actions.

They show that we have a problem in our school system that our superintendent and school board (who made no mention of these arrests last night during the board meeting, just as they’ve made no mention of the Pinnacle abuse stories since those broke) are completely unwilling to address.

This is what we see in this report. That’s what these numbers show. That we have a superintendent and a board that is willing to claim anything, no matter how illogical or hurtful, just as long as the blame doesn’t fall on him.